Israel's prime minister has said that the strategy used in last year's war with Lebanon was drawn up months in advance, an Israeli newspaper reports. According to Haaretz, Ehud Olmert said it was decided at least four months before that any kidnap of Israeli troops on its border would trigger war. On 12 July 2006 Hezbollah militants seized two Israeli soldiers sparking an all-out assault by Israel's military. Mr Olmert reportedly made the claim to an inquiry last month. The Winograd Commission is an Israeli government-appointed commission tasked with investigating last summer's conflict with Lebanon and identifying lessons to be learned from it. It is expected to release its interim report this month. About 1,000 Lebanese, most of them civilians, died in the 24 days of fighting along with 116 Israeli soldiers and 43 civilians.... http://news.bbc.co.uk

China has unveiled a landmark law that will boost the protection of private property rights. This is the first piece of legislation in the Communist country to cover an individual's right to own assets. Analysts say the move is an important step away from Chinese egalitarianism and towards a market economy. The bill will also reportedly boost protection against land seizures, which have become a major source of unrest among farmers in rural areas. Introducing the law to the annual session of China's legislature - the National People's Congress (NPC) - Deputy Chairman Wang Zhaoguo said the country's economic and social changes made the proposed legislation necessary. It will help "safeguard the immediate interests of the people", he told reporters. With the economy becoming increasingly dependent on private investment, China's people "urgently require effective protection of their own lawful property accumulated through hard work," he said. ...http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/6429317.stm

The majority of Israelis are secular Jews, but the religious Jews in the country wield enormous influence. David Ben-Gurion, Israel's first prime minister, designed it that way, inadvertently blueprinting a conflict that has yet to be resolved. Young Israeli women adore Zak Berkman. The attractive, 30year-old actor has appeared in popular TV series, sometimes as a crook, sometimes as a fighter pilot. Now teens can admire him in a new historical role. At the recently opened Herzl Museum in Jerusalem, the young star plays Theodor Herzl, the father of political Zionism. The operators hope that Berkman's mass appeal and a new multimedia exhibition will inspire enthusiasm about the country's founding father among the young. Studies have shown that the country's schoolchildren know surprisingly little about Israel's origins, Zionism and its War of Independence. The Herzl Museum takes them back to the past - recreating the era of the man who conceived the state of Israel, but ...http://www.spiegel.de/international/0,1518,469996,00.html

A teenager who was found dead with a state senator's guy by his side shot himself, and no charges should be filed in the case, the county coroner said Thursday. Westmoreland County Coroner Kenneth Bacha's decision came after an inquest last month into the death of Louis Farrell, 14, whose body was found last summer in woods behind his home and the home of his neighbor, state Sen. Robert Regola. The senator's handgun was found beside his body. Sen. Robert Regola has said neither he nor his son, Bobby, 16, had anything to do with the shooting. The senator was in Harrisburg at the time, and Louis, a neighbor and friend of Bobby's, had a key to the house because he was watching the family dogs while Regola was away. An attorney who presided over the inquest questioned whether Louis's death could have been anything but suicide. ...http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,,-6466508,00.html

In Rome, breaking the chains of love requires a hacksaw - literally. Sweethearts in the Italian capital have adopted a new ritual as a symbol of undying love: hanging a padlock on a lamppost on the city's most ancient bridge and throwing the key into the Tiber. The craze has drawn hundreds of couples in the few months since it started - causing city officials to wonder whether the ancient Roman bridge is suited for such an overwhelming display of passions. ``The rite has reached a dimension that will be difficult to cope with. We must guarantee the bridge's decency while preserving this beautiful practice,'' said Marco Perina, a city official. Some couples write their names or a message on the lock. They throw the key into the river over their shoulders to avoid seeing where it falls....http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,,-6466499,00.html

U.S. and Iraqi security forces cannot solve the problem of violence in Iraq without political action and reconciliation with some militant groups, the U.S. commander in Iraq said on Thursday.General David Petraeus, in his first news conference in Baghdad since he took command last month, also said he saw no immediate need to request more U.S. troops, but reinforcements already requested would likely stay "well beyond the summer.""There is no military solution to a problem like that in Iraq, to the insurgency of Iraq," Petraeus said."Military action is necessary to help improve security ... but it is not sufficient."He said political progress would require talking to and reconciling with "some of those who have felt the new Iraq did not have a place for them."...http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/meast/03/08/iraq.petraeus.reut/index.html?eref=rss_world